(Translated version, original article written in Chinese by Pastor Mickey Hsiao)

Worship

By singing praises and hymns, awake your soul, open your heart to the Lord, and prepare yourself to welcome the presence of God and receive the Word of God that will be given to you.

Thanksgiving

Petition with thanksgiving to God for a wonderful day and pray sincerely for a focused Scripture reading time! (Do not rush into reading the Bible without starting with prayers!) (e.g., you may start with a simple prayer like this: “Dear Lord, what will you be speaking to me today?)

Scripture Reading

Get the following items ready in advance: your devotional notebook, paper, pen, and/or electronic devotional articles so that you can easily write down the Bible verses, questions, and thoughts you have noticed! You are encouraged to open your Bible and vocally read out the scriptures (Try to practice this reading method daily or once a week)!

Scripture Reading: Mark Ch. 3 (ESV)

Meditation

Take a moment to quietly reflect on today’s Scriptures. Through such exercises, let God’s Word be gradually written into our hearts and be inscribed to our mind.

Devotional

Read the devotional articles prepared by CBCLWA (*Read the Bible first before reading any devotional materials.)

(vv. 1-12) As written in today’s scripture reading, there was always a great crowd following Jesus wherever he visited. Demons appeared before Jesus many times and they shouted to him: “You are the Son of God.“ Why did Jesus purposely hide his own identity? The Books of Gospels give us some clues for his reasons, which can be explained in three likely conditions, the “3Ms:  

• Moment (wrong timing): It was not the appointed time for Jesus’s crucifixion yet. We know God will do things according to His own time;  
• Message (wrong message):  It would have been a confusing message if people regarded Jesus as someone who just came to heal the sick and drive out demons. The most important purpose of Jesus’ coming is to bring God’s grace and salvation to his people, not to perform miracles that came along; 

• Messenger (wrong messenger): It was prohibitive for these demons to act like a messenger of Jesus even if they had known the true identity of Jesus.  

To fulfill his Godly mission, Jesus chose to hide his identity, and he waited patiently until the appointed time. Will I be willing to submit to God today?  Will we seek God’s will earnestly for the purpose of our life, whether at work and at home? May the Lord help us! 

 (vv. 13-19) The Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke and the Book of Act listed the names of Jesus’ disciples. Peter is always listed first on the following lists of names. Judas, the one who betrayed Jesus, is always shown as the last person on these lists. For your reference, we organized the names of these disciples for each list by dividing them into 3 groups, with 4 names in each group. In the table below, the first person listed in each group is the same across all 4 columns. By the time when the Book of Act was written, Judas already passed and only 11 disciples were left on the list from the Book of Acts. 

(vv. 20-35) Can you imagine how challenging Jesus’ ministry was?! On the day of the Sabbath, Jesus, in his good will, wanted to save lives, and yet the Pharisees wanted to kill Jesus. Jesus drove out demons who had shouted to him “the Son of God” and yet Jesus was accused by people that he was possessed by Beelzebul, the prince of demons. Jesus was busy preaching that he had no time to eat, and yet, his family said Jesus was out of his mind. In today’s scripture reading, Jesus apparently was attacked by religious figures and disturbed by spiritual forces, rejected by his family and relatives, and so on. In the face of these challenges, Jesus continued his ministry and performed miracles still. Jesus appointed the twelve disciples that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach and to have authority to drive out demons.   It is generally believed that Thaddaeus in the Gospels of Mark and Matthew was actually called Judas (son of James) by the apostle Luke. And in the Gospel of John, Bartholomew was known as Nathaniel who came along with Philip.  

Brothers and sisters, when the followers of Jesus get up and serve, they are anticipated to be challenged in many ways. Fear not! In the face of these challenges, let us be abiding in the Lord at all times. If we follow and obey God’s will in everything we do and serve him, we shall see the expansion of God’s Kingdom. 

Pray

Give thanks to God for His enabling us to read the Scriptures and for our response for living out the Word of God today! (e.g., You may start with a simple prayer like this: “Dear Lord, what/where are you going to lead me to today?”)